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TAK1 is essential for MAIT cell development and the differentiation of MAIT1 and MAIT17

Cellular & Molecular Immunology volume 20, pages 854–856 (2023)Cite this article

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Mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are unconventional T cells that have been conserved throughout mammalian evolution, displaying innate and effector-like qualities [1, 2]. MAIT cells express a semi-invariant T-cell receptor, which recognizes vitamin B metabolites produced by various bacteria and yeast organisms, presented on the restriction molecule major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-related protein-1 (MR1) [3]. In mice, MAIT cells undergo three developmental stages in the thymus, giving rise to two subsets, MAIT1 and MAIT17, which secrete IFN-ɤ and IL-17 to combat infections [4, 5].

TAK1 is a member of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase kinase kinase, MAPKKK (or MAP3K), family that is involved in Mapks, such as the exocellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (Jnk), and p38 MAPK pathways, and mediates the NF-kB signaling pathway [6]. Multiple studies have reported that TAK1 is critical for conventional T cells and iNKT cells using different mouse models [7,8,9,10,11]. However, the role of TAK1 in MAIT cell development remains unknown.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the NIH tetramer core for providing MR1 tetramers and Dr. Stephen D Brown for performing irradiation for the bone marrow charisma transfer experiment. We thank all laboratory members for their support and encouragement. This research is partially supported by NIH RO1AI119041 (QSM), Henry Ford Immunology Program grants (T71016, QSM; T71017, LZ), and the Henry Ford Cancer Institute Postdoctoral fellowship program (JW and KS).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Rachel Krevh, Jie Wang.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Cutaneous Biology and Immunology Research, Department of Dermatology, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI, USA

    Rachel Krevh, Jie Wang, Bobby Zuniga, Jugmohit Toor, Kalpana Subedi, Li Zhou & Qing-Sheng Mi

  2. Immunology Research Program, Henry Ford Cancer Institute, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI, USA

    Rachel Krevh, Jie Wang, Bobby Zuniga, Jugmohit Toor, Kalpana Subedi, Li Zhou & Qing-Sheng Mi

  3. Department of Internal Medicine, Henry Ford Health, Detroit, MI, USA

    Li Zhou & Qing-Sheng Mi

  4. Department of Medicine, College of Human Medicine, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Li Zhou & Qing-Sheng Mi

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  1. Rachel Krevh
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Contributions

QSM and LZ conceived and designed the project. RK, BZ, JW, KS and JT harvested and processed mouse tissues. RK, BZ and JW designed and performed the flow cytometry experiments. RK, BZ and JT performed MR1-tetramer enrichment. JW, RK and BZ analyzed the data. JW, RK, LZ and QSM wrote the manuscript with feedback from all authors.

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Correspondence to Li Zhou or Qing-Sheng Mi.

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Krevh, R., Wang, J., Zuniga, B. et al. TAK1 is essential for MAIT cell development and the differentiation of MAIT1 and MAIT17. Cell Mol Immunol 20, 854–856 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41423-023-00999-x

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